Charles Oliveira is striking while the iron is hot and has challenged UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov to a title fight.
There were very few, if any, more interested parties to Dana White announcing Khabib’s decision this past Saturday than Charles Oliveira. Oliveira has the longest winning streak in the lightweight division (8) and perhaps even more pertinently, he is the highest-ranked lightweight to have not fought Khabib yet. After all, Khabib has said in the past that he is looking for a new challenge, and Oliveira is most certainly that.
When Charles Oliveira tuned in to learn Khabib’s future and begin to contemplate what that means for his own career, he heard his name mentioned in Dana’s paraphrasing:
“And basically, the way that he feels right now is he’s accomplished everything he’s set out to accomplish,” White said on the UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar telecast. “He thought that Oliveira looked really good in his last fight against Tony Ferguson.”
White would then go on to state that Khabib would be watching UFC 257 to see if any of the lightweight fighters on the card, including headliners Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier, can blow him away enough to fight again. But Charles Oliveira seems to have possibly already done that. So “Do Bronx” took to Twitter to shoot his shot and challenge Khabib to a fight.
“Thank you @TeamKhabib. All due respect, I delivered, and I feel ready to challenge you for the gold. Let’s go! I hope to see you soon.”
Charles Oliveira also posted the clip of Dana White’s comments from Saturday’s telecast in the tweet. In the post-fight press conference, Dana White was even more specific about Khabib’s words for Oliveira, stating that Khabib said that Oliveira deserved a title shot. It is unclear if Oliveira was aware of Khabib’s comments regarding the title shot when he sent out his tweet, but even if he was not, his challenge could not have been worded more urgently or more pointedly toward the reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
What do you think the odds are that we see Khabib return to defend his title against Charles Oliveira?
